Newsletter 99 BIG Little Science Centre January 2008

Alisha Casorso was one of the earliest visitors to the BIG Little Science Centre. This file photo shows Alisha delightingin the flying confetti created by static electricity she produced by rubbing the clear plastic surface with fur. Alisha was inkindergarten at Oak Hills Elementary School when I took this photograph. Gordon Gore Photo (circa 2000)

Would You Believe Eight Years?The BIG Little Science Centre will begin its ninth year of existence this coming month. It will haveentertained its 40,000th visitor by that time. It all began in a single room at David Thompson ElementarySchool, in February 2000. We now occupy four rooms at Bert Edwards Science and Technology School.

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More Things I Have Tried or Wanted to TryGordon Gore

I wanted to play floor hockey, but the coach wouldn’t allow skates in the gymnasium.

I wanted to try ice fishing, but the ice cubes I used for bait melted.

I wanted to play miniature golf, but they said I was too tall.

I tried to attend an ‘in-camera’ meeting, but couldn’t figure out how to get through the lens.

This Newsletter is apublication of the

BIG Little Science Centre SocietyBox 882 Station Main

Kamloops BC V2C 5M8

LocationBert Edwards Science and

Technology School711 Windsor Avenue,

Kamloops, BC V2B 2B7

Executive DirectorGord Stewart

Phone (250) 554 2572or (250) 554 BLSC

E-Mail: gord@blscs.org

Websitehttp://blscs.org

Newsletter EditorGordon R. Gore

Home: 962 Sycamore DriveKamloops, BC V2B 6S2Phone: (250) 579 5722

Fax: (250) 579 2302E-mail: grgore@telus.net

Over 39,300 visitors haveenjoyed the

BIG Little Science Centre!

What’s Ahead at the BIG

Little Science Centre?

Pro-D Science Day Camps for KidsJanuary 21 2008 Second Invitational Science Day Camp

(Sold Out!)May 5 2008 Third Invitational Science Day Camp

Open HouseSaturday February 16 2008

Biology Chemistry and Physics

Teacher In-Service Offerings[Tentative: Subject to KTTA Requests]

February 22 2008 (More Details Later)

Workshop #1: Hands-on Activities for Light and

Colour: Are you looking for ideas for teaching Light andColour? This very ‘hands-on’ session features about 20

stations where you can try out activities that you can use

with your own students.

(Intermediate or Junior Secondary) Gordon Gore

Workshop #2: “Matter”: Adele Stapleton has many

neat ‘hands-on’ ideas for teaching primary kids about

Matter. (Primary) Adele Stapleton

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From Bookbinder’s Apprentice to the Greatest

Experimental Scientist of his Time: Michael FaradayDr. C. J. (Kip) Anastasiou

Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) successfully developed the idea of electromagnetic propulsion in a circle,

setting the stage for the development of the electric motor. He arranged his electromagnets so that with the

application of electrical current they pushed a magnetic rod around in the circle of the dish. His 14-year-old

nephew was with him, and realizing the potential of what they had done they immediately did a dance around

the lab bench and then went out to celebrate on the town! He was always a kid in a brilliant man’s body. Out of

this simple experiment, he along with many others developed the electric motor. It became the basis of much of

industrial technology ever since. That simple experiment in the early nineteenth century became the power

source of modern industry. He also figured out that reversing this process, using a force such as water or wind

power to push those magnets around in a circle produced electricity. Many had tried but Faraday succeeded!

Faraday had little formal schooling, having only schoolboy mathematics and little grasp of algebra and

certainly no calculus. Yet, because he believed that knowledge could be gained by careful observation of simple

experiments, he was able to do more to advance the fields of chemistry and electromagnetism than any other

scientist of his time.

Because he came from a bookbinder’s apprenticeship and not from the wealthy classes, he suffered

more slights and gross insults than any other great scientists of his time. His mentor, Sir Humphry Davy, a

celebrated chemist who was knighted for his work (Davy also started as a commoner: his father was a wood

carver and his mother a hat maker!), asked Faraday to accompany him on his tour of the scientific

establishments of continental Europe. However, Faraday, in spite of already showing scientific talent, was asked

to go as Davy’s valet! Not only that but Davy’s wife decided that since Faraday was not a gentleman, he would

have to ride outside the carriage through France, Germany and Italy and then back to England through rain, sleet,

snow and sun! And of course, he would have to eat with the other servants at the various inns that they

stopped at during the 18 month-long journey! He came very close to quitting science and returning to England to

be a bookbinder. It wasn’t riding on top of the coach that bothered him. He loved the view and rode on top

pretty well for the rest of his life. I would think that emptying Sir Humphry’s potty every morning for 18

months could put a strain on any brilliant man’s desire to be a philosopher of science! Fortunately for science,

his interaction with the great continental philosophers was worth the embarrassment, the cold and the wet!

Faraday’s experiences with the gentry and his very fundamentalist religion (he was a Scottish

Sandemanian – look it up on the web!), led him to refuse a knighthood. However, Queen Victoria granted him a

grand house for life at one of the royal palaces, Hampton Court, and a yearly stipend. His religion prevented

him from acquiring wealth and he might otherwise have had an old age of relative poverty! However, even after

he reached old age, he continued to contribute to society by being one of the first environmentalists! He worked

to clean up the Thames River, and he was consulted on the air pollution from the Royal mint.

Michael Faraday, one of the very greatest experimental scientists --- but no mathematician!

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What happens to ice cubes when you drop them into a glass of your favourite refreshing drink? They float to thetop! Ice is just solid water. Why does it not sink to the bottom of the glass?

Try this simple experiment: Fill a small plastic container with water, so that the water is level with the top ofthe container. Place the container in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator, and leave it there for as longas it takes to freeze into a solid mass. Now, compare the volume of the ice with the volume of water you placedin the container.

The small plastic container was filled to the brim with water, and then placed in a freezer. Notice that theexpanding solid water (ice) forms a ‘cap’ on the container, and also caused the base of the plastic container toswell.

When a sample of water is cooled, its volume decreases like most other substances, until it reaches atemperature of 40 C. However, as the temperature approaches the freezing point of 00 C, the sample of waterexpands! Since the same mass of water now takes up more volume, the frozen water (ice) is less dense thanliquid water.

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Density equals mass divided by volume.

Density =Mass

Volume

If the volume of a certainmass of water increases, then its density decreases.

When water freezes, it expands by approximately 1/11 of its volume at 40 C. As a result, its densitydecreases from 1.00 gram/millilitre to about 0.92 gram/millilitre.

Neighbouring water molecules (H2O) in this Molymod� molecular model of ice are linked by weak hydrogen bonds,represented by the long connectors. Strong bonds between hydrogen atoms (H) and oxygen atoms (O) within individualwater molecules are represented by short connectors. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms, and the white spheresrepresent hydrogen atoms. If you look closely, you can see that the water molecules form hexagonal (six-sided) groups.

Why does water expand as it freezes? Water molecules consist of two hydrogen atoms firmly attachedto a single oxygen atom, by very strong chemical bonds called covalent bonds. (Each covalent bond consists ofa pair of shared electrons.) The H2O molecules are also attracted to one another by a weaker chemical bondcalled a hydrogen bond. This is due to an attraction between the negative oxygen atom in the H2O moleculesand positive hydrogen atoms in neighbouring H2O molecules. As temperature falls below 40C, and the H2Omolecules get closer to each other, hydrogen bonds causes the water molecules to link up and form a crystallattice. The crystal lattice consists of H2O molecules neatly arranged in the solid state. The effect of thehydrogen bonding is to space the H2O molecules out more than they were in the liquid state. Thus, the ice isless dense, and the ice floats.

Think about this!What would happen in nature if ice were more dense than water?

Are you interested in snowflakes? Have a look at this wonderful site:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

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Two Forms of Carbon

Figure 1 Figure 2

The square piece of material in Figure 1 is very pure, man-made graphite. Figure 2 illustrates a Molymod�molecular model of a graphite crystal. Carbon atoms form strong bonds in the parallel layers, but weakerbonds between layers. Graphite is soft and feels ‘greasy’. It is a good conductor of electricity.

Figure 3: Graphite is the major ingredient in pencil ‘lead’.

Figure 4 illustrates a Molymod� molecularmodel of a diamond crystal. Strong bonds existbetween all neighbouring carbon atoms.

Diamond is the hardest mineral known. It is anexcellent thermal conductor (but a poorconductor of electricity).

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GraphiteGordon R. Gore

All Photos: Gordon Gore

In the photograph above, a very thin wafer of graphite is noticeably levitated. This man-made graphite crystal isvery pure; the crystal is made up of carbon atoms arranged in a very orderly fashion, and it has very low density. Graphiteis diamagnetic. Diamagnetic materials are slightly repelled by both poles of a magnet. In addition, once the externalmagnetic field is removed, the diamagnetic material does not retain its magnetic property.

Graphite is one of several allotropes of element number 6: carbon. Allotropes of an element differ in the waythe individual atoms are bonded to their neighbours. Diamond is another allotrope of carbon. While diamond is thehardest mineral known, graphite is soft enough to use in pencil ‘leads’ and various lubricants. In nature, graphite is foundin geological areas of metamorphic origin. It can be found as crystals, as flakes or in amorphous (non-crystalline) form.Although carbon is a non-metal, graphite is a good conductor of heat or electricity. It is used in carbon electrodes (forexample, in batteries) and in contact brushes for motors and generators. Aquadag, a suspension of graphite in water, isused to coat the lining of cathode ray tubes to make them conducting.

In graphite crystals (Figure 2), carbon atoms are arranged in parallel layers, with strong bonds between atomswithin the layers, but weak bonds between atoms in parallel layers. Layers can easily slide over each other, makinggraphite slippery and soft.

In diamond crystals (Figure 4), carbon atoms are bound to neighbouring atoms with very strong bonds. Thecrystal arrangement, with all atoms equidistant from their neighbours, creates a very rigid network. Diamonds aretherefore extremely hard. On the Mohs Scale of Hardness for minerals, diamonds are rated 10, the hardest, while thegraphite in a pencil lead has a hardness of about 1.

Research Topics

(1) Find out about other allotropes of carbon, such as buckminsterfullerene and newly discovered allotropes, one ofwhich is magnetic! What are nanotubes? You might like to try these web sites:

http://www.dendritics.com/scales/c-allotropes.asphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_carbonhttp://www.aip.org/pnu/2004/split/678-1.html

(2) Diamond is a much better thermal conductor than even copper, yet it is a poor conductor of electricity. Why is it so?

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/diamonds/index.html

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Trevor’s ‘Driver’s Licence’ for Using His Wheelchair in the BIG Little Science Centre Hallway

Trevor with his ‘receipt’ Trevor with his sister, Sydney

Trevor at the B.E.S.T. School Christmas Concert

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Trevor Nixon — My Five-Year-Old HeroGordon R. Gore

It was the first week of school at Bert Edwards Science and Technology School. I was sitting inthe office at the BIG Little Science Centre, and a group of happy, high-energy kindergarten kidspassed our door on their way back to class after a break outdoors. One little guy caught my eye.First, I noticed his big happy grin, and then I noticed that he was walking in a strange manner,In fact, he was severely crippled.

I asked his teacher who the little guy was with the big smile and the crippled feet. Iwondered how a little guy with this serious handicap could look so happy! She explained thathe had a condition called ‘club foot’, but that he was going to have an operation to correct theproblem.

I made a point of saying “Hi!” to Trevor every morning. He rarely said anything, butalways gave me a big grin. We at the BIG Little Science Centre open the outside door for kidsevery morning at 8:15 A.M., and it is my habit to tease the kids about having to pay $100admission to get in the door. One day, Trevor came in the school with a homemade $100‘Monopoly money’ ‘bill’, which his Dad had made for him, and gave it to Gord Stewart,executive director of the science centre. We went along with the joke, and gave Trevor aprofessional-looking receipt for the $100 in Monopoly money.

Trevor did not appear at the school for a while. He was at the hospital having anoperation on his feet. Eventually, he came back, but he was confined to a wheelchair. Thewheelchair had no effect on Trevor’s smile. It was still there, as big as ever, and I tried to seehim as he came in every morning. That big Trevor smile is like a vitamin pill. You just feelbetter after you say “Hi!” to Trevor.

I made a very official looking ‘Driver’s Licence’ for Trevor, so he could drive down theBIG Little Science Centre hallway in his wheelchair ‘legally’, He seemed to get a big kick outof that.

Eventually, Trevor was out of the wheelchair. For the first while, he walked rathertentatively, and then he started to walk quite normally. In the last week before Christmas break,I could not believe my eyes. He was actually running down the hall!

The ‘teacher’ in me should have said, “No running in the hall!”

But I was really thinking, “Run, Trevor, run!”

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Science Fun for Your FamilyGet a Charge out of Static Electricity!

Figure 1

Try This!

1. Comb your hair, and bring the comb near an empty pop can, as in Figure 1. Move the comb slowly away from the popcan. Does the can roll after the comb?

2. Try attracting the pop can with a balloon, after you rub the balloon on your hair or on a wool sweater.

Certain materials, when rubbed with wool, fur or cloth, have a noticeable attractive effect on small, unattached objects.This attractive effect was first noticed more than 2500 years ago in ancient Greece. The Greeks noticed that amber, whenrubbed with cloth, would pick up bits of dust, hair, straw and similar materials. The Greek word for amber is electron.

Ehren Stillman

Off on a Tangent?

A friend at university was so poor he had to take outa loan to buy a book on trigonometry. I know thisbecause he asked me to cosine the loan.

Avoid illiteracy. Eat alphabet soup.

What You Need

1 empty pop can1 plastic comb1 balloon1 wool sweater